Our little mop top hit eight months on Wednesday! Â It’s been a big month of small-but-sweet pleasures – giggles, lunch dates, new flavors and faces. Â I don’t know if it’s the sunshine or the sweet potatoes or the long afternoon naps, but Juliette is growing even faster than the dandelions that have suddenly sprung up all over our yard! Â Her toes are already scrunched in her 12-month footy pajamas, and there are days that I pick her up and have to check her pockets for rocks because she feels so much heavier than she did just hours before. Â I’m thrilled to see her thriving, but dang it, the changes just come soooo fast. Â Too fast sometimes. Â So I’m still squeezing her into a couple of my favorite 6-month onesies, and I can’t bear to part with this duck towel that we’ve been wrapping around her since her very first bath.
“Wait – you’re putting these pictures on the internet?!”
We gave Jules her first “swimming lesson” a couple of weeks ago – there’s a great new pool a couple of miles from our house with a dedicated children’s area and we went for a family dip on a rainy Saturday. Â She was a little bewildered by the whole thing, not knowing what to make of all the splish-splashing kids around her, and she clung pretty tightly to Shane and I as we cruised through the water.
But the trip was totally worth it, just to see her strut her stuff in her swimsuit! Â Oh, Jules – you are too much.
She’s more and more easily amused these days, gracing us with her giggles during post-bath “armpit nom-noms”.
Daddy is still hilarious. Â And a little scary, no?
She’s become a pretty great date, and we often head out for family lunches on Shane’s Fridays off and bakery runs on Saturday mornings.  The fact that she can sit in a high chair rather than my lap is pretty huge – I no longer have to spend the entire meal trying to rescue my food from the grip of our grabby girl!  (Those chips and guac are for me, not her!)
Her stellar sitting skills also come in handy at the grocery store, as she’s now able to hang out in the shopping cart – this has revolutionized the way we do Costco!  Plus, she holds my wallet for me.  So helpful, that girl…  (I think this is her “how could you possibly need another photo of me?!” face.)
We’re adding new foods to her menu each week – she loves mangos and berries and scrambled egg yolks. Â Yogurt, not so much…
Peas are usually a hit, but yesterday she protested for some reason. Â This squishy face gets me every time – ok, baby, pears it is, then!
The expressions on this girl! Â Kills me.
Her hair is becoming more and more red and increasingly unruly.  There are some mornings that we can’t help but laugh when we lift her from her crib, as she bears a striking resemblance to drunk Nick Nolte.
Juliette’s teacher at daycare is quite the baby hair stylist – seems Jules is always sporting some kind of new ‘do when we pick her up in the evenings. Â Baby buns, tri-pony’s – anything to tame those wispy locks.
And those blue eyes! Â The red hair is from the Schnell side of the family, but we’re still stumped on where she got her blue-gray gaze.
We’ve had some pretty incredible weather this month – sunshine and barefoot temps and long hours of daylight. Â So we hit the parks hard, as swing sessions and games of airplane are guaranteed smile-makers.
Seriously, girl loves her swings…
This stuck-out bottom lip has become part of her trademark facial expression.
I know, so many photos…
Doesn’t she look like she’s striking a pose for a school photo here? Â Turn a little more, tilt your head a bit, smiiiiile…
Happy eight months, baby! Â Looking forward to seeing what you’ve got in store for us next month. Â Crawling, more new faces, maybe sleeping through the night…?
